SOUTHPORT Waterloo’s senior track and field team have won promotion into Division Two of the Northern League.

It was a remarkable achievement, thanks to the perseverance of team manager Barbara May, assisted by Norman Marshall, who never lost belief in her team – all of who remained committed to giving it their best shot.

Apart from the pole vault, every event on the team sheet was covered and many great individual performances kept the team in first place all day – starting with near maximum points in the women's 400m hurdles, where Jemma Wright set a new under-20s club record of 67.5.

And Jemma's was not the only club record, with Joe Vis adding the 3,000m steeplechase to his 2,000m steeplechase record.

In terms of graded standards, Katie McHale was the best individual performer with a grade 2 10m 76 triple jump.

Special mention should be made of under-17s Adam Davies, who is throwing the senior men's 7.26 kg hammer nearly 40m – just 4-metres short of a senior graded standard.

There were also seven personal bests, 16 season's bests and 14 'A' and 'B' wins, mainly by the women who propelled the team to victory with an impressive points score of 193 –46 points better than their closest rivals.

Versatile senior Stephanie May was second in her pole vault competition (1m 90), her 400m hurdles race in 69.8 and her 200m in 27.2 won her 400m race in 59.5.

Stephanie James ensured maximum points from the 400m with a win in the 'B' race in a new personal best time of 58.8 secs – just two tenths of a second off the under-17s club record.

Under-17s Sarah Docherty ran a PB in the 800m with 2:25.5, Amanda Crook ran both the 800 and the 1,500m in 2:34.3 and 5:02.8, Sam Dean Howard warmed up with a 1,500m in 5:01.9 before joining Sue Cooper in the 3,000m race.

In a virtual re-run of the 3,000m at Preston, Sam sat on the leader's shoulder before passing, initially with 400m to go and then more decisively from 200m, to win in 10:46.8 – just a tenth of a second off her Preston time.

Sue Cooper, fresh from the BMAF champs at Birmingham, won the 'B' race in 11:18.3, so again the girls took maximum points. Jemma Wright won both 'B' hurdles. Her club record of 67.5 secs in the one lap race and 19.1 for the sprint hurdles.

Over in the field, she cleared a season's best 1m 45 in the high jump and triple jumped 8m 09. Under-17s Charlotte Roberts won the 'B' long jump with 4m 34 and she cleared 1m 35 in the high jump.

In the throws, Rachel Everett produced season's bests in both the discus, with 21m 05, and the javelin (19m 36) where senior thrower Ann Dignan also had a season's best with 21m 64.

Once again, Southport Waterloo were treated to the sight of Lauren Brennan streaking down the home straight to bring the baton home in 52.2.

Stephanie James had the fastest sub-60 leg of the 4 x 400m relay, but this win relied on the hard work put in on leg two where Stephanie May took the baton at the back of the pack and worked her way through to hand it on in first place.

Katy Hooton held position and by the time Stephanie James raced off with the baton, there was no way the girls would be caught.

The men's team was probably the strongest achieved this season with a good mix of seniors, under-20s and under-17s.

Joe Vis set a club under-17s record in the 2,000m steeplechase last weekend in the Junior League and set another in the 3,000 steeplechase with 11:07.0.

'A' 'chaser Steve Wilkinson was second overall in 10:31.4 after starting the meeting with a 67 secs 400m hurdles.